Fascinated and Influenced by Census

FFXIV is the darling of BlogNation. A lot of the blogs I read are regularly talking about the game and their experiences there and even some bloggers who are anti-themepark MMO have been supportive of the experience that FFXIV provides. I knew it would only be a matter of time before I tried it, but with the sub fee and an expansion looming I really wasn’t in a rush. Much like how I end up early supporting games I’ve been bored, so I downloaded the 14 day trial and began to plan my adventures. Downloading a large MMO takes time, even on my fibre optic setup so I started doing research on classes and races and I stumbled upon the most awesome of information EVER!

This is amazing information, provided by the company, and as I have argued before MMOs should be more forthright with info such as this. I am always a big fan of “play what you like” but who doesn’t like to make an informed decision?

This is exactly what I was talking about in my post last April! Also, I can answer that Paladin question in FFXIV, for the past two years.

Now armchair developers don’t have to guess, provide anecdotal information, or their own personal observations on what the numbers are. They can reserve that judgement and hypothesis for why, instead! Look, we all know in MMOs with X number of classes and Y number of races no one will ever be a snowflake. Still, this information is interesting to me and did influence some of the decisions I made. First off, I like big races. I mained a Troll in EQ and also in DAOC. Still, if 90% of the player base played big races I may have changed my mind to just be a little different – thankfully not so here as only 2% of the player base play the Sea Wolf Roegadyn. Nice fit for me! I still went with Guardian because I love shield and sword tanks. I did do research on why Paladins were so common in FFXIV and turns out they are a bit easier to manage on rotation – which is also a great starting point for me to learn how to not only tank a new game, but learn all of the instances and group content at the same time.

Side observation – I was surprised how few play the Elezen (elfish) race – although I suppose that sleek sexy race in FFXIV have ears and tails. I also found it quite interesting that they had the Asian stats as well, and more players play females in the Asian side of FFXIV than in the NA/EU side. Interesting to see cultural differences.

I really hope that Square Enix continues to share this information annually as the game grows. With my love of stats and long standing thought that developers should be more open with this kind of information it really helps me decide to support the game and the developer as well. While it had some influence it was nothing huge and I probably would have ended up making the same choices if I didn’t have this information. Having this information gives me the confidence in those decisions and also thankful that a gaming company feels they can treat it’s player base as adults by sharing.

Go check out the census if only to use it as the standard that all MMO companies should be doing.

Share this:

Like this:

Post navigation

I love stats, too, and didn’t get to look at this updated census yet. Thanks for linking it! I don’t know why I enjoy things like this so much, but I do. I remember back when I played EQ2 (before Ratongas became a neutral race), I was one of the 2% Swashbuckler Ratongas on my server. I was quite proud of that! XD

It’s interesting that the DPS classes have somewhat evened out now days. Dragoon used to be a fan favorite. And now White Mage is the top played class! Huh!

Anyhow, welcome to FFXIV! Hopefully we can hook up in game sometime. I’ll continue to keep an eye out for you in player search!

The elves look kind of haughty and aloof in FFXIV, plus they have very odd ears. I find the humans and cat-people far more attractive overall. But I liked the idea of playing an ogre/troll mage, so I went with Roegadyn myself. and I have my archmage title, so I’m good.

That said, I’m leveling Paladin and Warrior now also. Currently 34 PLD and 33 WAR. FWIW, the level 26-30 range is supposedly “hard” for a Warrior, and the 30-40 range is supposed to be “hard” as a Paladin. Warrior’s get their “Defiance” tank stance at 30, but Paladins don’t get their “Shield Oath” tank stance until 40. FWIW, I’m not having any trouble with my Paladin, but I am having to work a touch harder for aggro, while the Warrior is always “miles ahead” on aggro, so I can see where the perception comes from — but I can still hold aggro on the PLD just fine.

FYI, you’ll still want to get Marauder up to level 6 for some of the cross-class skllls (Foresight and Fracture, specifically — Foresight is a good defense buff, and Fracture is a decent-damage dot, so it can help with your aggro generation if you spread it around the mob packs), and you’ll want conjurer to 15 to be able to even be a Paladin, and 34 in order to get Stoneskin. Though tbh, Stoneskin isn’t that big a deal, but it’s still nice to have.

You always have such helpful information to make my life easier =) I think I am going to roll with TSW for a bit first once my FFXIV trial is over – I bought the Massive Edition so I have a lot to play through (without a sub fee) and playing both will just take away my full enjoyment from either. I like to be “all in”. Still, I know I’ll be back to FFXIV it will just be later on – and yes, I’ll be working on focusing on tanking. May wait for the expansion and then there will be yet another tank to consider!

I’m very much looking forward to all 3 of the new classes. I’m more of a ranged dps person, so the Machinist has a big draw, but the Astrologian mechanics sound fascinating enough that it’s the one I’m most excited about. The Dark Knight sounds interesting as a mana-based tank rather than TP, but … I like tanking well enough, but it’s not my 1st love, so while I’m going to play a DK also, it will be the 3rd of the 3….